“Bad weather you’re prepared for is good weather.” - reader SA
I recently attended a meeting of some Type A preparedness dudes in my area. I took notes and thought I’d run through them here. The topic of the meeting was intentionally diffuse but addressed two basic questions “What do you see happening this year?” and then “If things go awry, what is your plan to mitigate them?”
To a man, we all expected something double-plus ungood to happen this year – either through governance, supply chain problems or foreign adversary action. So with that out of the way, the second question took on material relevance. Let’s dive in.
“Are there white hats and black hats?” – This refers to the concept advanced years ago by the Q-Anon crowd that there are benevolent (white hats) and malevolent actors (black hats) in government acting for and against the American people. My personal conclusion is that if there are white hats they’re doing a pretty lousy job of things. So I don’t really care.
“Loser declares the war over, not winners” – The loser of a conflict must surrender otherwise the presumed winner is required to continue to fight. It seems backwards at first but it makes good sense.
“Learn skills ASAP - personnel management and hard decisions” – Any sort of conflict requires leadership and that implies decision making. This answer was a reply to a question I posed where things had become temporarily grim and a I was considering taking in a local family: the wife a retired ER nurse (useful skills), the husband a whiny complainer (just another mouth to feed). The admonition to steel yourself now for these hard decisions involving real people is the crux of the issue.
“Cannot compare USA to Serbia due to natural history of ability and toughness” – A prominent figure in the preparedness community is a guy named Selco who survived the Serbian civil war. He has quite a few stories but one attendee suggested they didn’t apply here because of the American mindset and experience which he considered weak. He may be right: could you barter for a bag of onions like they routinely do in a Middle Eastern market?
“NFL cities have big problems” – The assertion that cities with a large NFL following will be the first to melt down if things go pear shaped. Certainly an assertion I’ve never considered but fully agree. Raider Nation! etc.
“People like to be around people for interaction, note the end of this behavior” – This was in reference to “reading the room” and deriving the current level of concern in your area. When people stop congregating to chat and share info/gossip it means they don’t feel safe doing so. Take note of that.
“Do you have any food?” – If someone comes to your door asking for food it could be a guise to see if you have any yourself with the intent to take it by force if you allude that you do. A good reply is “No, do you have any food?? Where can I get some??” to present yourself as even more impoverished than the visitor. (Of course all conversations take place through a closed door.)
“Remember the biohazard tape” – Passive area denial is one of those things that works for you when you’re not working at it. Stringing up orange biohazard tape (buy it online) is a way to create doubt in a visitor’s mind as to whether or not to cross. Just like the sign “Area under surveillance” – you have no idea as to the veracity but it gives you pause in proceeding.
“Hold an attack exercise instead of a defense exercise” – This was a suggestion by one attendee to flip the script and become the aggressor for a change to identify weaknesses in someone else’s land/home with the intent of informing them so the could be fortified. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense.
Some of the items are out of the bounds of what I typically cover here on the blog but still, they warrant consideration when you have time. Not to hyper focus, just a quick mental exercise. Enjoy!